I am the First Lady of HR with a stellar career.
"People" is my middle name, on Tuesdays.
"Save a dollar, save a dime, spending cash is a corporate crime"

Thursday, 14 August 2014

What language did your ancestors speak?

A fair question

Most readers of this blog know that I have two brothers, Frank and Ernest, who work for Blackberry.

To be frank and earnest, I do not understand why we received a lawyer's letter, initiated by a lady candidate whom we turned down for a job in our Service Department.

She claimed she was asked 4 unfair questions.

1) What language did your ancestors speak?

2) Do you agree that pregnancy interferes with high performance and achieving stretch goals?

3) If you are married, what food do you cook your husband for supper?

4) Are the ladies of HR true business partners?

I called our corporate lawyer (who works on a razor thin retainer) and told him that the candidate was probably inventing the entire story. The lawyer played me a tape, and indeed, I heard my own shrill voice doing the interview.

When I think back, this interview took place after a huge argument I had with Chief Nerd Comrade Carl Marks, who took me out for lunch (Au Beau Pain) to reconcile but "talks broke down".

I don't know if this was a game to find the worse questions a HR can ask, but if it is the case you probably won. For me job interview questions need to be relevant for the job and frankly asking what language did your ancestors speak can be taken very badly. It implies that the person was not speaking proper English or with an accent and therefore that you discriminated her for her ethnicity, skin color, nationality or even her social origin.